Sam Wyly

“Originally, I was in both software and in online computing. The first innovation really was sort of at that time that we're marrying the telephone and the computer so that people wouldn't have to drive to the computer center. We didn't have $1,000 computers.”

“In managers, I look for people who can get things done through other people. The most important thing for a good manager is that the people on his team feel like he or she has integrity.”

“The purpose of a business is to create customers.”

“Al Gore is an heir to the old czars and commissars. He never saw a regulation he didn't like.”

“Actually, I bought one share of Warren Buffett's stock, probably 35 years ago, in order to read his letters.”

“Actually, I've never thought myself as being a particularly hard worker. I've always worked, and I guess my mind is busy all the time. I've been in a lot of things just because of my own intellectual curiosity.”

“The air is dirty because of the electricity monopolists. They have powerful money lobbyists.”

“I come from a long line of people that write. My folks ran a weekly newspaper.”

“I debated free trade in college. I came out as a free trader. I'm a free markets guy. I'm an Adam Smith guy.”

“I'm a monomaniac with one goal: clean air from clean energy.”

“I think it's good politics to beat up on big companies and rich people.”

“I'm interested in personalities, not political parties.”